Work of Fiction
by rposei
Summary: [AH - AU] Bella is a young novelist who is trying desperatly to write her new book, although she knows what she wants, she's having trouble finding inspiration, that's it, until her intriguing neighbor with a mysterious lifestyle moves in; it seems like he was the inspiration she was looking for. Cannon Pairings.


**DISCLAIMER - **I do not own Twilight, or anything. This is pure fiction.

**A/N 1 - **I really could use a Beta-Reader, someone with the awesome grammar skills I lack. /

**A/N 2 - **I don't share the same _Twilight cast_ for this story as the movies, simply because I imagine them more glamorous and adult. Maybe I'll post the cast I have in mind some time. /

**A/N 3 - **I am currently updating and re-posting an old story of mine called **Something** **New, **I'll have, of course, different posting days for each, but I'll try to weekly update them.

Enjoy!

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**[BPOV]**

I gently looked over my window as I lightly tapped my keyboard. My lips pursed and my eyebrows furrowed, as if I was searching internally for inspiration, the fact was: I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

_Dragons? Fairies? Elves? Curses? Witches? Middle Earth? _I shook my head; I was going way out of my comfort zone. _You're Isabella Swan, not George R.R. Martin, or Tolkien, keep focus!_ I thought to myself, dragging myself back to the daunting reality that waited for me, which was where I should be.

Truth was, I had no idea where this block was coming from. Usually it was pretty easy for me to write something down. I got my first book on the shelves even before I could get out of Yale; it was a great work of fiction - I still keep the first printed copy on my room -. When I was on high school, one of my best friends, Rosalie Hale, emailed one of my short stories to the New York Times, which put me right on the spot along with the other 19 writers under 20 years old. Writing came as easy for me as breathing, it was natural, I had no problems in my life that diverted me from my creativity, all of them were long gone and solved, no skeletons in my closet, yet, now, all I had, was a humongous writer's block that kept me from thinking clearly, and typing something down. Obviously though, sitting in front of my laptop was doing me no good, I was starting to think that the blank Word page was starting to mock me silently.

Suddenly, the sound of the Imperial March oozing out of my phone made me sigh in relief.

Yes, Imperial March, _don't you give me that look_.

Getting up felt different on my legs, they were wobbly because I practically sat on my butt all day, actually, with my office being so dark, and all the curtains closed, I had absolutely no idea what time it was. Soon enough, I reached my phone, a bright picture of Jasper Hale, my editor, appeared on the screen. I'll admit I had to think for a minute or two to see if I should answer him or not.

Don't get me wrong. I love Jasper with all my heart, if the last name didn't give you any clue; he is the twin brother of Rosalie. Let's say I like to surround myself with familiar, trust-worthy people. I met Jasper and Rosalie when I was two years old in some daycare in Dallas, Texas. My parents had just moved in from Forks, a small, rainy, damp town in Washington, and Jasper and Rosalie's parents just so happened to be our lovely neighbors. Soon, Aunt Carmen came to be my godmother, and Uncle Eleazar my godfather. Needless to say, me, Rosalie and Jasper never got off each other's backs since then. We did everything together, from high school, where Rosie protected my reputation as the best friend of the queen bee at all costs, to a series of unfortunate events that surrounded my life up until we were old enough to get out of Texas, and move to New York. Yale was our brand new start, and as the rest of our lives, we were together on this one as well.

Jasper always shared my passion about writing and reading, we crossed the barrier of being geeky, we took it to a whole new dimension – Alice, his girlfriend, and my other best friend, often referred to us as Leonard and Sheldon, you know, from The Big Bang Theory -, we were the type of people who preferred to be inside our homes, with our noses stuck between the pages of a good book, than on a night out on the town, maybe, that was the reason I was such a good fifth wheel on our group, New York City was always too fast for me. Anyways, although Jasper's aim was never to be a novelist, it married along with mine very much, he was a famous editor in New York now, we helped each other during our growth in the business, he was the first one to read my book, and the one to make me noticed, essentially my book assisted him to achieve another level in his career during our Yale years, and his career facilitated me to launch my own. Ours has always been a give-and-take type of friendship and we reached so far in our lives, that we can definitely say that we made it.

And now, although Rosalie was making her name in the academic world, her brother was currently employed at one of the best publishing houses and tied to me as my editor, we were together from the very beginning, and that's mainly why it was taking me so long to pick my phone up, it had been almost a month that he had only called me to pressure me about the first chapter of my book, and the deadline was slowly coming to an end.

Finally deciding on pressing the green button and bringing the phone to my ear, I already knew what was expecting me.

"_Bella?" _His voice was husky and masculine, but it didn't seem to be in a hurry like when he called me on the day before. In fact, he was almost yelling, there was a loud music on the background.

"Jazzy, are you calling me to pressure me any further? The damn chapter is coming!" I realized I was sounding like a bratty child on the phone, but sometimes, I just wished I could wrap my hands around his neck and suffocate him, like he was suffocating me, of course, I would never be capable of doing that, I was far too petite, and he was far too strong.

"_Chill, can you just chill!? Alice told me to call you and ask you why you haven't arrived on her birthday celebration yet."_

"Oh, fuck." My eyes grew wide. "What time is it?" I asked, already feeling my blood running cold on my veins.

"_Late." _He simply answered.

"I'll be over there soon, and tell her I'm sorry."

I shut the phone and was quick to make my way to the office once more. To say that I got fairly distracted when I was writing, or _trying _to write, was far more than an understatement. I closed the curtains, dimmed the lights, and cut off any kind of connection that I could possibly have with the world, writing was a _me_ time, and nobody could distress me in my _me _time. The laptop I usually wrote in had the wrong time on the clock, so I could not see the hours pass by me. In my office it was always the same time of the day every day, so you can pretty much imagine my despair as I opened the curtains and saw the stars shining bright on the sky, and all the city lights on, when I closed them, the sun was just rising. Actually my despair came, when I realized that I was so out of the world, that I had completely forgotten that it was Alice's birthday. I was surprised I didn't get a call any sooner. If I didn't know better, I would say that Jasper had told Alice not to call me. I looked at my phone again, and saw that I was probably an hour and a half late to Alice's birthday party, which probably meant that she was going to wrap her little hands around my neck and suffocate me, just like how I dreamed about doing it to her boyfriend.

We met Alice on our first day at Yale, as the bright, cheer, full of caffeine, bundle of energy roommate that was tied to me and Rosalie for the rest of our years there. Rosalie hated it at first. Alice is a as fast as New York, she always fit right in, although she came from Chicago, and she was far too much to handle, especially for a laid back person like Rose, but I liked Alice as soon as I met her, we got off on the right foot, and best friend each other ever since then. Alice always tries to make me leave the house more, and have real relationships, and she tells me that I'm her personal Barbie doll, which was where she managed to bond with Rose, they loved taking me on shopping trips, and spa days, I hated it. She is the joy that was missing from my life, just like her cousin Emmett Masen, who dated Rosalie for many years now, he was a big bear, a really huge bear, and he treated me worse than he treated Alice. In his eyes, I'm sure I am about seven or eight years old. Most of my past "boyfriends" ran away because he didn't like them. He was very overprotective, and his former football player and current firefighter position came very much in handy from time to time.

The two of them completed my gang. See? I'm the lucky fifth wheel in the story, no boyfriends, no _almost_ boyfriends, and no hook up or fuck buddies, just the plain old Bella, her glasses, and blank Word page mocking her profusely. I groaned and lowered the laptop screen. "You're not hunting me today anymore." I said to it.

Was I really going to start to talk with computer screens now? And about myself on the third person? I _had _to get out.

It wasn't long before I was fully dressed on good little black dress, and golden sandals. _You can definitely _not_go wrong with a little black dress. _I liked what I saw on the mirror. I wasn't ugly, far from it, but I was no Rosalie either. My brown hair was down to the middle of my back, the ombré look, made it change from brown to golden around the ends, my big brown eyes were framed by golden, brown and black shades, with eyeliner and mascara, and my lips were in a deep shade of red. Alice had certainly taught me well. I looked hot, simple to say and to see. Both Emmett and Jasper found strange when I dressed up, because they were so used to see me strut around in jeans and shirts with funny prints on them, I was a tomboy at heart, and nevertheless I wouldn't find a boyfriend for myself by hiding my goods, so the _girls _were perky and perfectly on display. "Showtime girls." With one last look on the mirror, I turned on my heels, grabbed my clutch and Alice's birthday gift and got into the elevator, ready to walk down on the New York night.

It had been a very long time since the last time I had stood in line to enter on a club, not because I was recognized from my books, but simply because we earned the right to go right inside after getting the VIP area for ourselves quite a few times, and it was Ali's birthday, girl likes to spend.

After being greeted good night by the security, I got into a crowded club, dark, with only the laser lights brightening a few people at a time. The music was loud. _Where have you been _by Rihanna boomed on my ear and right into my head, and I wondered why wouldn't Alice choose something simpler, like a dinner party or whatever, of course, I wouldn't ask her, she would probably consider it disrespectful. Soon, I found my way to the stairs and into the VIP lounge, and there stood, my four amazing best friends, all dancing and having fun.

Alice was the first one to squeal once she saw me. "Bella!" She ran in my direction and wrapped her arms around me, giving me a hug that certainly cut the circulation off my body, and restrained me from air.

"Alice. Breathe." I said, making her laugh and letting go of me. I handed her the gift. "Of course, that is simply the first part of your gift, I couldn't possibly bring something too big here, so, it had to be symbolical, I promise you'll love the second part better." I explained as she untied the white ribbon that was around the little blue box from Tiffany's. It contained a necklace with the eternity symbol as it's pendant, which meant a lot for our friendship. "Oh and happy 25th birthday Ali, I love you." I said, she was just smiling, and put her arms around me again.

"Oh Bella, I love it, it's just perfect, just so perfect that it makes me almost forgive you for being so late!" Her voice was very well heard through the loud music, it was pitchy, and already sounded like she had too much to drink. Alice wasn't the person to react well to alcohol, or caffeine, so we, as her friends and the people who would have to deal with her, tried to keep her away from all of that, however, today was her birthday, she could do almost anything she wanted in our book.

"I'm sorry okay? It's totally not my fault; I blame your stupid boyfriend, and his stupid deadlines!" I pointed directly at Jasper, who was sitting on the couch, and shot me an innocent look.

Slowly we approached the table, and everybody came and talked to me, first Rosalie, who complimented me on my clothing choice, then Emmett, who lifted me off the ground and nearly displayed my panties for the world to see, and then Jasper, who hugged me and didn't say a word about the book all night. He was letting me off the hook for one night, but I was very certain that tomorrow he would bug me all day long through my hangover, which was very much certain to exist. Soon, I was desperately in need of a drink, so, when I got the chance, I excused myself to go to the bar.

My words cost me about fifteen minutes of a drunk Alice lecturing me about how we were in the VIP area and how we had waiters that brought us drinks as soon as we asked for them, but truth be told, I wanted a small break from them. Seeing them all happy and together, made me realize how bad and failed my love life was. It was just so easy for them; they were together almost as long as they met in college. I, on the other hand, had left behind me a long trail of horrible relationships that hardly ever ended well. From the possessive James when I was fifteen years old, to the plain, condescending Jacob Black, who never challenged me enough, or spiced up our sex life. For the last year or so, I decided to throw everything to the air, and give up on finding love. Alice always said that _love_ would certainly find me someday, and he would be a prince on a white horse, little did she know how deeply jealous I was that she had someone like Jasper by her side.

I don't want a prince on a white horse, I just want someone who treats me well in front of other people, and throw me in the wall without any mercy to his will. That thought alone made me smile to myself as the waiter handed me a beer. A few men approached me while I was drinking alone in the bar. Someone named Michael Newton, then another one named Dimitri, and soon his friend, Felix, but I shook my head to all of them, as much as I was feeling lonely, I wasn't feeling like being picked up by someone and having a one night stand. As the fifth beer was served to me, I decided I couldn't stay there any longer, I handed the money, and went up the stairs to enjoy the rest of the night with my friends, after all, I was there for Alice, I shouldn't be staying away from her for the night.

I think that Rosalie might have picked up on the reason for me to have gone to the bar, she spent the rest of the night making sure that Alice wasn't hung on Jasper's neck, and that she wasn't hung on Emmett's, I looked at her, always thanking her for not making me feel lonelier than I was already feeling. Rosalie always saw right through me, I couldn't afford to have any bullshit with her. She dragged our asses to the dance floor, and we enjoyed ourselves a very good time. That was the thing whenever we were together, neither of the four made me feel bad, or lonely, not intentionally that is. I danced with the girls, just as much as I danced with Jasper and Emmett. The big bear took advantage that Rose stepped out to go to the ladies' room and pulled me in for a dance, and Rosalie joined us once she was back. We were family, they were my family. Of course I missed my parents back in Texas, but I was finally living my life, on my own, and things were working out pretty damn great.

When the clock hit midnight, we sang _Happy Birthday _to Alice with a huge cake and a candle that seemed more like a firework. It was almost two in the morning when they dropped me off at my building.

"Don't be a stranger during this few weeks okay?" Alice pleaded as I waltzed my way out of the cab we shared.

"Yeah Bells, my brother is moving in the city, a new addition to the department, once we have the time, I'm certainly wanting to introduce you two." Emmett said sticking his head out of the car window.

"Okay you guys, give me a call, and we'll grab a cup of coffee, but no parties this week, I have to write okay? You know me, when I decide to do something, I shut myself out, and so, with that being said, I'll be at my office, writing my guts away. Ciao bellos!" I waved goodbye and passed through the glass doors of my edifice.

The living room was not spinning as I entered it, but I could certainly feel the effects of the alcohol in my veins, it made my fingertips tingle. I walked to the kitchen and grabbed myself a mug, heating some chocolate I had kept in the fridge; I filled the mug and proceeded to my bedroom. I left my sandals outside, by the door, and soon I was opening the doors that lead to the little terrace, there, I had the clear view of the building in front of mine; it had a similar style to the one I lived in. The apartment in front of mine had been empty for about three months now. The previous owners had moved out, but so far, either nobody could afford it, or nobody had shown interest in it, which it was very unusual for a building located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

I'm not a creep, but I take in a lot of inspiration for my books from the people I can observe from afar. I like to how they live, and fantasize about their lifestyle, how they got to where they are, and how they maintain their position. Rich people gave amazing psychopaths, and murderers. They were usually the main characters of my books, and the last time I could type anything was while the previous owners lived in front of me.

They were a married couple, seemed to be married for over ten years. She was beautiful, tall, lean, fit body, and ambition in her eyes – she took glances over here, from time to time while I was pretending to look at the landscape. He was in his mid-40's, handsome man, apparently a business man, maybe a CEO of some company, or just an heir to some big inheritance, I couldn't possibly imagine. They fought, a lot, but they loved some make up sex, of course, I could only tell that because they would unfortunately close their drapes every time, and they did it, a lot. But a lot of their routine, as boring as it was, served me as an inspiration, and I was craving for inspiration.

I must have stared at the apartment looking for its mysteries for at least an hour before the lights went on inside it. _I wonder if someone is finally moving in._ I got up from my seat leaving the mug on the floor, looking down; I could see a big moving truck parked in front of the building. I didn't know who the crazy human being that had decided to move in at three in the morning was, but I was certain that he, or she, or they would probably already get on the last nerve of most of the neighbors. Finally, the inspiration I was waiting for, I hoped that it was a he, and that he led an interesting lifestyle. I was intrigued to say the least.

The windows were closed, and the drapes were shut, so I was left to wonder which of the shadows that moved around the apartment, carrying things and leaving things lived there. Maybe my next book could be called _Apartment Something_, maybe, this one would be written about a man, or a woman, that lived a double life, saving people by day, as a prestigious doctor, and being _too _interested in how the human body works, some sort of American Psycho meets Disturbia, meets Pathology. I could feel the adrenaline shooting up my veins as my mind finally started to work properly, wrapping around whatever could have been happening at the apartment across from mine, I don't know how my imagination could be so tied to a confined space that I've never even been in, but as soon as it realized the possibility of human beings living in there, it started to work.

My eyes narrowed as I tried to see something other than shadows, I needed to distinguish anything, because at that point, my mind was working so hard, that I was just begging for the main character of my new book to pop out on his/hers/their balcony. _C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, show me your pretty face. _I can feel my lips moving, although only my minds were saying the words.

I only realized that I was concentrating too much when my phone rang for the second time that night startling me. Alice's ringtone was Barbie Girl, by Aqua, she was the only one that managed to crack my phone password, and changed her ringtone. The loud noise made my deviations about my new _building neighbor_ come to an end, so, I simply got inside to pick my phone up.

"Can you take a moment and realize that you scared the shit out of me, and that my clock says that it's 3 in the morning?" I told her as soon as I put the phone on my ear, and started to walk outside to my previous spot on my balcony.

_"Jeez Bella, hello to you too." _She sounded strangely sober, and there was something in her voice that gave away her happiness.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure that you have one hell of a reason to be calling me this late." Alice wouldn't probably risk waking me up, unless she had something very much important to say.

_"Yes, that is true." _She started. _"I wanted to wait until tomorrow, but then, I realized that you'd probably stay at home and write for the next month, so, I just needed to call you, and you know I can't call Rosalie, because Rosalie will hate me for life, no matter the news I have to tell her, but not you, and I really needed to call you Bel-"_

"Ali, you are babbling." I interrupted her. It was of course, very usual of her to babble for months, but due to the hour, and my new-found curiosity for my neighbor, and also for Alice's news, I had to interrupt her. "What's the news?"

_"Jazzy asked me to marry him! We're engaged Bella! I'm gonna be Alice Marie Hale!" _I could feel the excitement running through her words, and I could imagine that she had spent the last hours staring at her engagement ring. It was beautiful, I helped Jasper pick it up, I was aware of his intentions to marry her for about two months now, but as he said, no moment seemed to be the perfect moment to propose to her, something always happened, but he seemed to have found his perfect moment, _finally._

"Congratulations Ali!" I was pretty sure that my cheeks were burning from all the smiling I was doing. "How did he do it? You were pretty hammered when you left the club, not that a proposal isn't enough to sober you up, but Jasper wouldn't propose to you in a drunken state of mind."

_"Of course not Bella, don't be silly." _She laughed a little, before getting back on track. _"He took care of me, and when I was sober enough to give him an answer, he said that there was probably no better time to ask me other than today. Awh, you should've seen him Bella, he couldn't utter the words, and he was blushing the whole time, as if there was a single chance I could deny his proposal. I'm so happy Bella, just so happy."_

"Trust me Ali; I can hear your happiness through the phone. I guess that means we should be having dinner to celebrate on the next week right?"

_"Actually, not next week, in fifteen days, because I said to Jazzy that I would want you fully concentrated on the dinner, and not thinking about your book, so, I'm giving you a new and shorter deadline to write this damn thing down." _Alice could be demanding at times, but at least she was being kind of reasonable.

I wasn't exactly completely immersed in my conversation with Alice; my eyes couldn't dart away from the apartment across from mine. "Well, that shouldn't be a problem. Apparently my writer's block just came to an end." I bit my lip, starting to lose focus on what I was talking with Alice.

_"Well, that's great, what happened?" _

"Apparently someone finally located the apartment on the building across from mine. I got a new plot line and characters in mind, and… Ali, I have to go okay? I need to meet my new main character." And with that, I didn't even allowed Alice to tell me goodbye, and hung up the phone.

The moving staff seemed to have left the location leaving only one male silhouette walking around the room. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, show me your face." I silently demanded the new tenant who clearly wasn't hearing me, or would attend my wishes. I must have watched him for another half an hour before deciding on giving up, I would have to see his face another day. Once more, but now feeling kind of defeated, I returned to the inside of my bedroom, taking off my dress as I went.

It wasn't long before I was ready to go to bed, but as I approached my bed I could feel eyes burning on me, I turned around to see if I could spot anyone through the window, and as I lowered my eyes, I saw him. Handsome wasn't fair to describe the new main character of my book, the breath got hitched from my throat, he was seemingly tall, strong, spiked bronze hair, and mesmerizing eyes… the way he looked at me… yes, I was _sort of_ fully dressed, I had a t-shirt on, and panties, but he made me feel completely naked, and the fact that I was looking back at him didn't make him divert his eyes from mine. Slowly a crooked smile formed on his lips, and just like that he turned around and got inside his new apartment, shutting the balcony doors and then the lights as he went, leaving me standing there, completely dumbfounded.

And now, the only thing I wanted to find out was:

_Who was he?_

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___**Leave me some love.**_


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